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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The Great Jettison: Part 9

Old Technology Sold for a Profit? Hold on to Your Butts!

Like we learned in Jurassic Park (1993)...

...They said Earth Girls are Easy, but this Sattler
chick is a total cold, uh, fish!

If by life we mean kick-butt sales! The above cassette player served me well, from a Dubuque Goodwill store to my high school bedroom to my college dorm to my first two adulthood homes. Good thing I was able to sell it for more than I bought it after all that use...

When I first listed the player in the photo, I received just one response (besides the ones that went to my SPAM folder before I found out I needed to check it, whoops!) from a man in Dubuque. While Dubuque happens to be my hometown, it was about 90 minutes away from my location. He asked me to ship it to him, but I had to refuse. The cost of shipping the player would have been more than the $5 I was asking for it. I encouraged him to look elsewhere and wished him luck.

Weeks later, we scheduled a trip to Dubuque to visit family. On a whim, I sent the cassette head a note telling him I would be in town. He told me he was still interested, sent me his address, and bada-BING! The deal was back on.

...And indeed we were, with a much less disastrous (and less exciting)
end than the scene above.

So, in a very anti-climactic non-twist, we found his place in Dubuque and made the exchange. I even threw in a few Reba McEntire and Neal McCoy tapes after I saw his email address had the words "country fan" embedded in it. I'm sure we spent the five crumpled singles I got from it wisely. Maybe I bought some candy...

Do they have HARIBO gummi colas?

As much as I wish there was more to the story, that's really all there was. Trust me, if there was more story, you'd get it, and if I could have squeezed in any more Jurassic Park references, I would have. Believe me when I say that I tried.

Gratuitously Way-Too-Relevant Pic

...Just the top of the cassette player, not exciting enough to make
the body of this post, but should be included for journalistic integrity anyway.